BASIS OF PRESENTATION

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2019

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

BASIS OF PRESENTATION

1. BASIS OF PRESENTATION

General

Our unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of WSFS Financial Corporation (the Company or WSFS), Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB (WSFS Bank or the Bank), WSFS Wealth Management, LLC (Powdermill), WSFS Capital Management, LLC (West Capital), Cypress Capital Management, LLC (Cypress) and Christiana Trust Company of Delaware (Christiana Trust DE). We also have one unconsolidated subsidiary, WSFS Capital Trust III. WSFS Bank has four wholly owned subsidiaries: Beneficial Equipment Finance Corporation (BEFC), WSFS Investment Group, Inc. (WSFS Wealth Investments), 1832 Holdings, Inc., and WSFS SPE Services, LLC, and one majority-owned subsidiary, NewLane Finance Company (NewLane Finance).

Overview

Founded in 1832, the Bank is one of the ten oldest bank and trust companies continuously operating under the same name in the United States (U.S.). We provide residential and commercial real estate, commercial and consumer lending services, as well as retail deposit and cash management services. Our core banking business is commercial lending funded primarily by customer-generated deposits. In addition, we offer a variety of wealth management and trust services to personal and corporate customers. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) insures our customers’ deposits to their legal maximums. We serve our customers primarily from 127 offices located in Pennsylvania (56), Delaware (49), New Jersey (20), Virginia (1) and Nevada (1) and through our website at www.wsfsbank.com. Information on our website is not incorporated by reference into this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Our leasing business is conducted by NewLane Finance (formerly Neumann Finance Company). During the third quarter of 2019, the leasing operations of NewLane Finance and BEFC were combined and all new leases are now originated at NewLane Finance. NewLane Finance originates small business leases and provides commercial financing to businesses nationwide, targeting various equipment categories including technology, software, office, medical, veterinary and other areas.

Basis of Presentation

In preparing the unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements, we are required to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses. Amounts subject to significant estimates include the allowance for loan and lease losses and reserves for lending-related commitments, goodwill, intangible assets, post-retirement benefit obligations, the fair value of financial instruments, income taxes and other-than-temporary impairment (OTTI). Among other effects, changes to these estimates could result in future impairments of investment securities, goodwill and intangible assets, the establishment of the allowance and lending-related commitments as well as increased post-retirement benefits expense.

Our accounting and reporting policies conform to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the U.S. (GAAP), prevailing practices within the banking industry for interim financial information and Rule 10-01 of SEC Regulation S-X (Rule 10-01). Rule 10-01 does not require us to include all information and notes that would be required in audited financial statements. Certain prior period amounts have been reclassified to conform with current period presentation. Operating results for the periods presented are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for any future quarters or for the year ending December 31, 2019. These unaudited, interim Consolidated Financial Statements should be read in conjunction with the audited Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 (the 2018 Annual Report on Form 10-K) that was filed with the SEC on February 28, 2019 and is available at www.sec.gov or on our website at www.wsfsbank.com. All significant intercompany transactions were eliminated in consolidation.

Business Combinations

On March 1, 2019, we acquired Beneficial Bancorp, Inc. (Beneficial), including its subsidiary Beneficial Bank, a community bank headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, creating the largest, premier, locally-headquartered bank in the Greater Delaware Valley. Beneficial merged with and into WSFS, with WSFS continuing as the surviving corporation and simultaneously, Beneficial Bank merged with and into WSFS Bank, with WSFS Bank continuing as the surviving bank. This acquisition grew our market share, deepened our presence in the Philadelphia, southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey markets, and enhanced our customer base. The results of Beneficial's operations are included in our unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements since the date of the acquisition. See Note 3 for further information.